Prior to the pandemic, investor Kamran Ansari spent much of his time jetting back and forth between New York City and San Francisco to meet with startup founders and management teams. Sometimes these meetings were more formal. Other times they started as 30-minute lunches that sprawled into 90-minute conversations. READ MORE
It’s Not All About Venture Capital: Tech Startups Eye Debt Raises
Debt often has been used by tech startups to pump up their balance sheets during late-stage financing, but now many are looking at it as a viable option much earlier. READ MORE
Crowdfunding poised to grab role as VC alternative thanks to SEC revamp
Venture capital deals have long been the preserve of extremely wealthy individuals or institutional investors. Now, however, the growth of equity crowdfunding has the potential to turn that on its head. READ MORE
Why VC Firm Sequoia Broke With Tradition To Put Down Roots In Europe’s Startup Scene
When Klarna cofounder Sebastian Siemiatkowski heard venture capital firm Sequoia’s pitch a decade ago, he was “blown away.” Here was a famed Silicon Valley investor behind the likes of Apple, Google and YouTube visiting his payments startup all the way in Stockholm – to sell him on their help. But Siematkowski didn’t want to seem too easily wooed. “If we’re really the next Google, why isn’t the whole partnership here? Why is it only you who flew?” he asked Sequoia’s partner in the room at the meeting’s end. READ MORE
Venture Capital Funds Need To Innovate And Differentiate. Here's How They Can
The venture capital (VC) industry has been redefining, reinventing and repurposing itself in recent times due to the influx of online crowdfunding platforms, accelerated technology cycles and a newer generation of founders. This has required venture capital funds to increase their relevance, become agile and transform themselves into more than an investment partner to founders. In this article, I'll discuss several factors that are helping venture capital funds to innovate and differentiate. READ MORE
2020 Election preview: Private equity
Taxes, taxes and more taxes. The Democrats have made it clear they intend to increase taxes on the wealthy and businesses. Trump’s 2017 tax bill lowered corporate and individual taxes and made tax law more beneficial to multinational companies. But federal spending has increased, even before COVID-19, and federal budgets will need additional tax revenues regardless of the election’s outcome. A Democratic White House could spur general partners who are holding onto gains in certain portfolio companies to sell ahead of schedule. Policies around who may invest in PE—whether wealthy Wall Street types or Main Street investors—will also be critical. READ MORE
What each presidential candidate means for venture capital
Joe Biden appears to align with more venture capital and startup industry priorities than does Donald Trump, despite the latter's dedication to cutting personal and business taxes.
Why it matters: Trump’s hostility to immigration and bans on Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat are especially challenging for the industry, according to its top lobbying group, the National Venture Capital Association. READ MORE
How (And Why) To Make Venture Funding More Equitable
Despite a growing awareness of the inequities in venture funding, along with the massive untapped financial opportunities from investing in underestimated founders, the stark discrepancy between who gets funded and who sees the best startup results is alive and well. For example, recent data from Pitchbook revealed the third quarter of 2020 to have hit a three year low in venture funding to female founders, even though a study by FirstRound Capital showed that companies with a female founder performed 63% better than those with all-male founding teams. READ MORE
Mega-deals underscore PE's growing embrace of VC deals in tech
Over the past decade, the private equity industry has made an aggressive push into late-stage deals that were once solely carried out by venture capital firms. READ MORE
As venture capital rebounds, what’s going on with venture debt?
The American venture capital world has staged an impressive comeback from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. For a moment, there was worry that startups would struggle to raise for quarters, leading to layoffs, slowed hiring and budget cuts. READ MORE
2020 Election preview: Private equity
Taxes, taxes and more taxes. The Democrats have made it clear they intend to increase taxes on the wealthy and businesses. Trump’s 2017 tax bill lowered corporate and individual taxes and made tax law more beneficial to multinational companies. But federal spending has increased, even before COVID-19, and federal budgets will need additional tax revenues regardless of the election’s outcome. A Democratic White House could spur general partners who are holding onto gains in certain portfolio companies to sell ahead of schedule. Policies around who may invest in PE—whether wealthy Wall Street types or Main Street investors—will also be critical. READ MORE
Private equity firms can offer enterprise startups a viable exit option
Four years ago, Ping Identity was at a crossroads. A venerable player in the single sign-on market, its product was not a market leader, and after 14 years and $128 million in venture capital, it needed to find a new path. READ MORE
How venture capital can increase diversity where it matters most
I am a first-generation Mexican-American fund manager for Act One Ventures, based in Los Angeles, and I’ve raised two venture funds over the past five years. I do not come from wealth or privilege, which historically have been the driving forces behind the venture capital world. Now, as an up-and-coming investor, I want to put diversity at the forefront and address systemic inequality in venture. READ MORE
Considerations for Private Equity and Venture Capital Groups Interested in the Health Care Industry
Health care spending in the United States reached $3.6 trillion in 2018 and is projected to reach $6.2 trillion by 2028. With such a large amount of money concentrated in the health care industry, it is no wonder why private equity firms and venture capitalists continue to enter this space. For any groups looking to jump into the fray, there are several health care-specific considerations of which to be aware. READ MORE
What pandemic? Exits drive a near record-high quarter for venture capital
Most of the world has fallen into recession because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but much if not all of venture capital has been surprisingly resilient. READ MORE
Need startup funding? Here are 65 venture capital firms in the Baltimore-DC region
If you’re located in New York City or the Silicon Valley, venture capital firms are abundant and well covered by the media — you can’t escape them. But entrepreneurs in the Baltimore-D.C. region don’t need to go so far to find a firm that could propel their startup to growth. READ MORE
New Orleans Saints' Malcolm Jenkins starts venture capital fund with NFL players
Malcolm Jenkins has teamed with fellow NFL players to launch a venture capital fund. READ MORE
San Diego startups rake in $933M in venture capital despite pandemic
San Diego startups pulled in a hefty amount of venture capital in the third quarter, thanks to the region’s cluster of biotech/life sciences companies that continue to thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE
As Oil Bankruptcies Surge, Vulture Investors Start Their Long Feast
Bankruptcies abound in America’s oilpatch. So far this year 40 oil exploration and production companies have gone under, according to analysis from lawfirm Haynes & Boone, involving $54 billion in debt. READ MORE
VCs Look Ahead to Q4 2020
We’ve reached the final stretch of 2020.
Even with the political and economic uncertainty swirling around Q4 of 2020, VC firms across the Southeast are deploying capital and looking to strategically grow their portfolios. READ MORE